Despite the fact that the stage was set at the Camp Nou for Barcelona to start the season on fire and forget both the losses which they suffered against Rayo Vallecano in last season. But in reality what the Blaugrana team found was very different from what was imagined.
Rayo is not the Mexican Pumas and LaLiga is not Gamper . This obviousness was reflected in a match in which Iraola’s team, a regular in making life difficult for the Blaugrana, went to the Camp Nou very brave. Barça was in a hurry and lacked pause. The urge to build from behind ended too many times at the feet of Araújo, right back.
Xavi used three of his new players: Christensen, who seemed more tense than in the preseason; Raphina, who surprisingly started on the right after playing the entire preseason on the left and Lewandowski, more focused on offloading than finishing.
After the halftime break, Xavi repositioned the wingers, but Barça still wanted to play too fast and fell victim to their urges against Rayo, who waited for their opportunity and almost scored one.
In the added time of the first half, Álvaro García dismounted Araújo and Ter Stegen had to appear to avoid the 0-1. The first half ended with a frustrated Barça. The question was what the coaches could change for the second half. And in that, Barça’s arsenal was enormously superior to Iraola’s. Xavi had dynamite on the bench. He was no use to her.
Xavi’s last try was to send Kessié for Pedri and then in desperation Aubameyang to try to win the match. In added time, Busquets saw the second yellow card and Barça was left with one less and with the scare of a Rayo goal on the 95th min nullifying Falcao for offside and subsequent injury of Kessié,
CHANGES – Barcelona 0-0 Rayo Vallecano
Frenkie de Jong (59′, Gavi), Sergi Roberto (59′, Andreas Christensen), Ansu Fati (60′, Raphinha), Radamel Falcao (61′, Sergio Camello), Óscar Valentín (61′, Unai López), Franck Kessié (71′, Pedri), Salvi Sánchez (78′, Isi Palazón), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (81′, Jordi Alba), José Ángel Pozo (83′, Óscar Trejo)
CARDS – Barcelona 0-0 Rayo Vallecano
Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández
VAR Referee: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva, Pau Cebrián Devís
Ousmane Dembélé (13′, Yellow) Trejo (44′, Yellow) Catena (49′, Yellow) Lejeune (53′, Yellow) Falcao (68′, Yellow) Busquets (73′, Yellow) Pathé Ciss (85′, Yellow) Dimitrievski (88′, Yellow) Busquets (92′, Red)